


Dropping In

by Idiotgangleader



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-21 04:48:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9532130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idiotgangleader/pseuds/Idiotgangleader
Summary: Jacob "drops in" on Roth and finds him in a bad mood.





	

Jacob quietly and carefully placed his steps as he crept slowly on the rafter. His target waited for him unsuspectingly down below. He wasn’t one for sneaking, that wasn’t his style, he much preferred a good fight than sneaking about like a mouse. But this target was dangerous, far more dangerous than any other person he had taken out so far and he had to proceed with absolute caution or else he would surely end up with a blade through his chest, or worse. His target was walking around now and looking about the room and Jacob was sure he had suspected something by now, but it was too late to turn back. He waited for just the opportune moment when the man walked right below the rafter where Jacob hid, and then...

He swung his body over the wood and used his legs to hang himself upside down in front of the man below.

“ _Looking for something, Maxy?!”_

The shocked look on his lover’s face made the assassin smirk triumphantly. That triumph, however, was short lived when he felt a powerful impact to his gut that made him lose his balance and sent him crumpling down to the ground. Jacob groaned in pain for a few moments as he held his gut, which he was sure was going to have a nasty bruise later. After composing himself, he looked up at the Blighter leader with a hurt look in his eyes, trying to find some sympathy in the Thespian’s eyes. He wasn’t surprised when he found none, only annoyance and a little look that The Blighter reserved for him when he wasn’t amused.

“That...was...much uncalled for.” He grunted as he continued to hold on to his gut and tried to catch his breath.

Roth’s eyes didn’t leave the assassin’s nor did he lean forward to try to help the man to his feet. Most would consider this kind of behavior between lovers to be unacceptable. But they were not most people. They were the leaders of the most powerful gangs in London; violence was in their blood; as was their ability to take quite the beatings. They had a very complicated relationship, but it was one that Jacob wouldn’t trade for the world. Though, moments like this where Roth looked like he was ready to burn the whole world down was not always pleasant.

“Don’t start with me, boy. You know very well you deserved that. And the next time you try it, you’ll get my blade instead of my first in your gut.”

The man turned away from Jacob to walk over to his desk and open himself a bottle of wine. Great, Jacob thought. He was in a bad mood, which was an eminent threat to everyone within a ten kilometer radius, including himself. Jacob slowly brought himself to his feet and brushed himself off before walking over to where the man was sitting; placing his hands on the older man’s shoulders before leaning forward and resting his chin on his head.

“What’s the matter, darling?” He whispered softly as he began to rub the Blighter’s shoulders.

Roth responded by flying out of his chair and standing to face Jacob with a look on his face that was no less than menacing. However, Jacob was used to this kind of behavior from him. It wasn’t often that Roth got angry, but when he did, Jacob knew that even he had to tread carefully.

“Let’s go through the list then, shall we? You know very well what to expect if you sneak up on me! You also know better than to address me by that... _name._ And those rafters are meant to hold curtains, not people. One of these days you are going to break them and then I am going to break your neck!”

Everyone else in London would have been terrified with Maxwell Roth in their face and yelling; just annoying the man meant certain death for some people. But Jacob knew better, he had seen Roth when he was truly angry. Roth was a very talkative man, for him to be yelling like this usually meant he was merely stressed or cranky. The real danger came when he said very few or even worse when he had that crooked smile on his face that would make even the Devil shudder. When that happened, Jacob just stayed out of his way and hoped that whatever god was out there had mercy on the soul of whoever it was that made the Thespian enraged. But in this case, it seemed that Roth was just in a bad mood in general, so there was no real danger, at least not to him.

“I can’t be the only source of your misery.” Jacob said pointedly, completely unfazed by the man’s mood.

Roth rolled his eyes and threw his hands in the air in frustration as he paced around and turned away from the assassin. Jacob only sighed before gently grabbing the Blighter’s hand and slowly pulling him towards the direction of the couch. Roth eyed him carefully but allowed Jacob to lead him over and sit down on the couch next to him. Once he did however, his gaze dropped to the floor and he avoided even looking at Jacob.

The Rook knew that Roth’s mood most likely had nothing to do with him and that his little sneak attack probably just added annoyance to his already bad mood. Roth was usually pretty easy to read in terms of emotions. _Predicting_ however was another matter in of itself. The man constantly kept Jacob on his toes, in more ways than one. Taking Roth’s hand in his, he gave it a squeeze before pressing a small kiss to the Thespian’s scarred cheek and resting his head on the older man’s shoulder.

“Talk to me, Max.”

“Maxy” may have been off limits, but “Max” was a special term of endearment that was only reserved for special occasions like this. And he was sure that it would grab the Blighter’s attention. Surely enough, he felt Maxwell stiffen a little bit before the man let out a sigh. Jacob had to hold back a smile of relief when he felt the man squeeze his hand back and rest his head over Jacob’s own. He felt Roth’s fingers affectionately stroke his knuckles before the Blighter Leader turned his head to press a kiss to Jacob’s hair.

“I’m alright, darling.”

His usually energetic and lively voice was now barely a whisper, but it was filled with a sincerity that was almost sacrilegious coming from Roth. However, Jacob knew that this was the closest he was going to get to an actual apology, and that was fine with him. Roth never apologized to anyone, he didn’t need to. No one ever dared to question him or challenge him on anything, no one that is, except Jacob.

The assassin nuzzled his head deeper into Roth’s shoulder as a silent encouragement to continue.

“My lead for tonight’s production just lost his life in a bloody carriage accident caused by one of my own imbeciles. The understudy is nowhere to be found and to make things even worse, the orchestra that was supposed to arrive from Berlin this afternoon hit a storm and is now probably playing for the Devil at the bottom of the bloody ocean!”

Jacob lifted his head so that he could look at his lover’s face carefully. His normally bright and lively eyes currently looked tired and completely exhausted. They were red, which put an almost unnatural contrast to his intense green eyes, and there were dark circles underneath them that made Jacob wonder when the last time it was that the Blighter had slept.

“You’re exhausted.” Jacob said bluntly as he wrapped an arm around Roth’s other shoulder.

At this, Roth shook his head.

“I’m fine.” His voice was firm, but still quiet. However, it lacked the normal conviction that his voice almost always had, and that was concerning.

Jacob shook his head before carefully planning out his next move. Slowly, he turned his body and moved his feet onto the couch so that he was half lying down and gently pulled Roth down with him so that the man was lying against his chest. He quickly wrapped his arms around the man to prevent him from pulling away, even though he knew that Roth was strong enough to push himself off if he wanted to, though it seemed that he didn’t. He felt the older man stiffen but made no attempt to move from where he was, which was a relief to Jacob.

“Jacob, I have neither need nor desire to be coddled.”

His tone was warning, though again, it lacked conviction. Jacob merely rolled his eyes and moved his hands to gently stroke the man’s dark hair.

“ _Cuddled_. Coddling is for comfort, cuddling is for pleasure. Or do you not take pleasure in being near me anymore?” He pouted before leaning his head down to press a kiss to his hair.

He heard the thespian sigh, but still made no attempt to get out of his current position. On the contrary, the older man adjusted himself and made himself comfortable before letting out another sigh, however this one was a sigh of content.

“Alright darling, you’ve convinced me. But only for a short while. The idiots around here can’t be trusted to run this place alone.”

Jacob snickered contently before resuming stroking his lover’s hair and pressing another kiss to the top of his head. After a while, he heard the man’s breathing become even and steady, and he knew the man had finally fallen asleep.

 

“Oi! What the-?!”

The assassin screamed and flailed as he hung upside-down helplessly from the rope trap that tied his feet together and hung from the rafter. Looking around, he saw a certain Blighter leaning against the wall laughing manically with a satisfied smirk on his face.

“Darling, you seemed so obsessed with getting the _drop_ on me, I thought I would help you out. Perhaps now you’ll think twice about sneaking about on my rafters.”

“Roth! For Heaven’s sake, let me down!”

The older man walked over to the assassin before placing a kiss on his upside down face.

“You’re a capable lad, I reckon you can get yourself down.” He snickered before turning to walk over to his desk and sit down.

“Damn smug bastard!”

As soon as he said that, a throwing knife whizzed through the air and cut through the rope that was suspending Jacob to the ceiling. The assassin came crashing down and landed on the hard floor with a loud thud. Groaning in pain, he looked over to his lover who was watching him closely with a cruel smirk on his face.

“I think I prefer getting punched in the gut.”


End file.
